ATTACKER GETS THREE LIFE TERMS

Three life sentences were handed down Friday to James Lee Harris, a Leesville, La., man who viciously beat and sexually attacked a 64-year-old Fort Lauderdale woman last October.

Broward Circuit Judge Thomas M. Coker exceeded sentencing guidelines to give Harris, 44, a life sentence for each of two counts of armed sexual battery, plus burglary. Harris also received 15 years for keeping the woman prisoner in her home several hours during the attack.

Defense attorney Paul Adams had asked that his client be sentenced according to state guidelines, in this case, 17 to 22 years for each count of sexual battery.

But Coker agreed with Assistant State Attorney Joel Lazarus that the violence of Harris' attack, plus the fact that he had been linked to a similar crime in Texas, merited a more severe penalty.